Multnomah County board Chairman Jeff Cogen, during a business trip to Atlanta this spring, shared a hotel room with county Health Department manager Sonia Manhas during a second, previously undisclosed rendezvous.

The revelation was the latest involving Cogen and Manhas, whose extramarital affair has roiled Multnomah County government and raised questions about Cogen's own once-bright political future.

Cogen said he is now asking for an outside party to perform its own review of whether county money was improperly spent. He said he does not plan to resign.

Cogen, 51, confessed last week to having an affair with Manhas for about a year and a half. He spent much of his time since the admission alone with his family at his Northeast Portland home before returning to work Monday on the sixth floor at the county's administrative offices.

In a brief interview Tuesday with The Oregonian, Cogen said he flew alone in April to attend a Best Practices conference in Atlanta. The conference ran from April 9 to 12.

He spent his days conducting county business, he said, but Manhas, who had been on a personal vacation, joined him in his county-paid hotel room during his stay.

"Like everything else with this affair, it was stupid and it was wrong," Cogen said. "I can't possibly say that enough times."

County attorney Jenny Madkour is already conducting her own investigation into whether any county money was improperly spent. The independent review would be in addition to that.

The county paid $2,640.42 to send Cogen to the conference.

"People deserve to know how their money is being spent and that it's being spent on county business," he said. "I want everyone to know just exactly what was the case here."

In a related development, the county's other four commissioners asked Tuesday for an outside investigation to determine if county money was misspent or any county personnel rules violated as a result of the affair. They asked Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill for advice on how to proceed.

In comments to The Oregonian, Cogen said he welcomes any outside look at the matter.

An anonymous email circulating last week alleged that Cogen and Manhas, 40, who is the planning and policy director in the county's Health Department, had been seen engaging in inappropriate behavior at several points around Portland. It also accused Cogen of using his influence as the county's chief operating officer to help land a promotion to her position last year.

The email forced Cogen to reveal his affair with Manhas, which he said ended about two months ago.

In an interview Tuesday afternoon with Laural Porter of KGW (8), Cogen again denied ever using his influence to help Manhas get the new position.

"She rose to the top of her own accord," he said. "The reality is that she got that job on her own."

The Oregonian's Editorial Board on Tuesday called for Cogen to step down. He declined to say whether he would run for re-election when he is scheduled to face a primary election in May but said he is intent for now on holding onto his job and trying to repair the harm caused by the affair.

"I'm a fighter, and I'm tenacious," Cogen said. "You have to be to get this job in the first place and do this kind of work. I'm not just going to throw in the towel."